Wireshark LAN Monitoring HaganFox.net/NetSec Originally presented at DeVry HackFest 2016-03-11 (with subsequent updates and improvements)
Wireshark and USB Creator Vocabulary Words OSI protocol stack * dmesg * dd * cat * partition table * master boot record * GPT * shared Ethernet * switched Ethernet * promiscuous mode * monitor mode * breakout tap * aggregating tap * hub * unmanaged switch * smart switch * managed switch * mirror port * frame * packet * SQ3R * --help * collision domain * half-duplex * full-duplex * block device * pseudo device * SPAN * Ephemeral port * Privileged port * broadcast * multicast * unicast * MAC Address * OUI * 3-Way Handshake * RST
IP Service Broadcast (one-to-all) Multicast (one-to-many) Hubs could only broadcast. Related topic: Promiscuous Mode Multicast (one-to-many) Special type of broadcast Only the ports interested in receiving the traffic Unicast (one-to-one) Port-to-port Full Duplex → bi-directional
Hubs and Switches Hubs Switches All broadcast Half-duplex Collision domain Switches Efficient Full-duplex
Switches Hide Packets You only see packets destined for the port you are sniffing on.
Sometimes written as TAP, for Taps Sometimes written as TAP, for Test Access Port
Taps Effective, but expensive Breakout vs Aggregating Potential point of failure Passively probe* (*) Sometimes passive taps allow injection of TCP resets.
Switches Enterprise: e.g. Cisco SPAN Ports SMB: Mirrored Ports (Switched Port Analyzer) SMB: Mirrored Ports
Types of Switches Unmanaged Low-end Smart Premium Smart Fully Managed Not helpful for sniffing Low-end Smart Helpful, Insecure Premium Smart Some security Features Fully Managed Powerful, with security features
Bandwidth Limitations Aggregating taps and mirror ports are two-into-one*. 2 (RX&TX) → 1 (only TX) Not a problem when your switch is Gigabit and your Internet connection Is 100 megabit. (*) or many-into-one for a monitoring port
Packets will reach... A Host Running Wireshark A Single Host (Learn.) A Single Host (Scrutinize a device.) → LAN Ingress / Egress Traffic ← (Watch for suspicious traffic going in and out.) All LAN Ports (It's too much and not necessary.)
Monitoring a Single Device
Monitoring Ingress / Egress Traffic
A Wireshark-Monitored LAN
Q & A
Wireshark LAN Monitoring HaganFox.net/NetSec